Once Upon a Time in Europe
by Renoa Heartilly
Summary: AJ: Ema Skye studied in Europe, Klavier Gavin is European, first encounter gives birth to what is now known as Snackoos XD


Notes: I always assume the characters are Japanese people of Japanese language and culture, who have been localized into English, so excuse me if I'm not writing them to be total Americans XD

Ema Skye was lost.

Ema Skye was in Germany; in fact she had been here for a while, but now she was lost.

She had decided to take this road home from college because the one she usually took was closed to shoot a movie, and now had no idea how to get back on the road back to her apartment complex.

It was a large square, full of people and hobbyist performers and annoying children. Thankfully there weren't any hobos or beggars going about their business in such a busy place, but that meant they found themselves new ways of earning spare change; and so even the worst of musicians and magicians were competing for a coin or two.

And here she was missing home. Japan's streets were sprinkled with performers, but they usually consisted of talented people waiting for the opportunity to be noticed; nothing like the annoying loud guitar and monotone drums that were piercing her ears as she sat on the bench a few feet away from the performing duo.

She munched on some cheese puffs, they tasted like sand in her mouth, and the cheese was making her fingertips orange and sticky and she hated it; what if she ended up touching something and her cheesy fingers got their prints all over it, and then it turned out to be an important clue in a case?

Ema shook her head and peered down at the endless bag of gritty cheese puffs, perhaps she's letting her studies get in the way of her life.

The duo performing finished their noisy number and the blonde dude who acted as both the vocalist and guitarist greeted the gathered girls in German before showing off his perfect teeth and doing a ridiculous bow. He placed his flaming red guitar in its case; not really caring for the monetary notes inside, and walked over to sit on the bench next to her.

She thoroughly ignored him, as she was waiting for the bus to arrive and this was the perfect place to see it as it approached.

The boy next to her was sitting like a rock star, legs crossed with a cigarette in his mouth and his pointy elbows nudging her occasionally as he searched his pockets; she wasn't pleased when he turned to her and said something long and complicated in German.

She said the first phrase she learned of the language, the translation book was sure it meant 'I don't speak German'. she would have added 'go away' if she knew how, but she didn't.

His accent changed and she assumed he was attempting another language, probably french, so she sighed and showed him her displeased face.

"I only speak English and Japanese."

"Oh! You speak Japanese!" He suddenly said in a language she understood, "Me too! I'm half!"

He spoke! "H-Half?" The cheese puffs were suddenly like fingerprint powder in her throat. "As in half-Japanese?"

"Ja! Mother is Japanese, father is German! What a coincidence!" He said and shook her hand vigorously. "What are you doing in Germany?" He took off his large sunglasses and beamed at her.

"I uh… I'm here as an exchange student." She hoped the bus would hurry up… This person was making her extremely uncomfortable with his forthcoming attitude and piercing stare and too-perfect teeth.

"Ooooh!" He scooted closer and uncrossed his legs before taking the cigarette out of his mouth and shoving it into the pack. "So am I! The road around college is closed off for a movie so we decided to come and perform here!"

The only words going through her head were 'awkward' and 'bus'. She rolled up the bag of remaining cheese puffs and sat up to toss the bag into the trash, the German boy followed her instantly.

"You're throwing it away?"

"Yeah, it's disgusting." Her hand paused above the bin.

"Well then, give it to me, Prinzessin." He took the bag and popped a cheese ball into his mouth. "I'm Klavier Gavin, nice to meet you frauline Japan!"

"I don't know what you called me, but I don't like it." She dusted her hands and rummaged through her messenger bag for tissues. "I'm Ema Skye."

The blonde paused mid-munch. "Skye? As in, prosecutor Skye from Japan?"

Ok, how did he know that? "That would be my sister." Wait, what was she doing, giving strangers personal information? And that bag has her prints all over it! He could be some kind of mass-murderer in sheep's clothing!

Or an awful leather jacket!

She snatched the bag of cheese puffs from him and proceeded to leave the square as quickly as possible. She bit back a groan when he fell in step with her with those long legs of his. "Don't follow me!"

"But frauline Skye! I admire your sister!"

Her heart skipped a beat, so he was a mass-murderer _and_ a stalker?

"How do you know my sister?" she hugged the bag tightly and walked faster.

He caught up easily. "I watched the trial on video, my bruder has it all on record; it's fascinating!" he finally broke her personal bubble and held her wrist. "So you're the little girl whose testimony settled it! I knew you looked familiar!"

She glared up at him. "Just who the heck are you?"

The boy grinned and swept long blonde hair off his brow. "I said earlier, Klavie-"

"I heard that." She interrupted and shook his hand off her sleeve. "What do you want?"

The smile froze on his face for a moment before his brows knotted in confusion. "I'm sorry frauline Skye, were you in a hurry?"

"Actually, yes, I was waiting for-" the bus drove by them in that same moment, having waited at the stop sign without her noticing. "That bus…" she stood there, watching the depressing backside of the vehicle as it drove to its next destination.

"Are you going to eat that?" The taller boy asked.

She focused her glare onto him, rubbed her sleeves all over the bag before shoving it into his shirt. "Help yourself! It's nothing but gritty cheese balls of doom!"

He laughed. "Oooh, Japanese taste only likes Japanese food." He winked at her, to her dismay he had more to say. "I know a shop that sells snacks with Japanese writing on them, I can't guarantee the quality, though."

In the pit of despair, there was a small ray of light. "Really? It's not in a narrow and badly-lit alleyway, is it?"

He laughed. "What do you think I am?" he continued down the road she had blindly walked, taking a simple turn he took them to a small supermarket. He ate the rest of the puffs as he explained, "My guitar is just a hobby, but I know my rights; if you listened for just a little longer I would have gotten a chance to tell you I'm here to study the German law." They passed through the automatic doors and he motioned with his hand to the junk food isle. "My brother owns a firm, the next time you see me I may be wearing an attorney's badge!"

She gave him a once-over. "Ah huh. So where's the Japanese food?"

After much search, the only thing Japanese they found was something misshapen, ugly and brown in a clear bag. It read: Karintou.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Karintou, I've never tried them before." She said happily, finally! A taste of home! A product she'd never bothered to try before, but one must make do with what one has available!

"It's food, ja? I mean… Are you sure?" he shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"Of course!" she picked up two more bags and skipped happily to the cash register. Once her purchase was made she skipped outside and sat on the closest bench to try them out and taste a bit of home.

Oh how she missed home!

She had just managed to get the impossible bag open when the musician/attorney/stalker walked up to her with a new lighter and a fancy-looking bottle of water. "Frauline Skye, you're positively glowing!" He laughed. "Snacks make you that happy?"

She munched on a piece, rolling it in her mouth trying to make out what it was supposed to taste like.

"How is it?" He sampled a piece and made gagging noises. "Pfui!" He downed a large amount of water before recovering. "We've been tricked!"

"It tastes alright!" She said and munched happily. It reminded her of the chips she used to eat while playing detective back home.

"Are you kidding? It tastes like mud pies!"

"Hey! Don't insult my snackoos!"

"S- Snackoos?" he scratched his head.

"That's what I'll call them, since you don't have an English name for them."

"They don't deserve an English name!"

"Mister Gavin?" Said a voice, a very familiar voice. They looked up and saw a car stopping just a few paces away on the road; it was a bright red sports car with its window rolled down.

"Ah, herr Edgeworth!"

"E- Edgeworth!" Ema stood up instantly, she had known Edgeworth and the Von Karmas had a firm in this country, but she always assumed it was a city far from where she was staying. "It's me, Ema!"

He brought down his sunglasses. "What a coincidence; do you happen to need a ride?"

"Yeah! I missed the bus and I can't find my way home!" She said enthusiastically; these snacks must be magical, everything started to turn out to the better!

"I could use a ride, too." Said Klavier and hoped over the fence to open the door. "You know mister Edgeworth?"

"Yeah, we go way back!" She said and followed the blonde boy into the backseat of the car.

"Not _way_ back." Edgeworth said and sped ahead once the doors were shut. "Klavier, have you given my offer any thought?"

"I have." He said and stretched his arms comfortably across the velvet coating of the seats. "I still can't see the point in prosecuting, what's the point of proving an innocent man guilty? To me, defending innocents is more important!"

"I see." Said Edgeworth, studying the two through the rear-view mirror. "Ema, it's been a while."

"Yeah!" she munched her snacks happily. "Your hair is even grayer!" she couldn't see the twitching muscle in his brow and continued as if she hadn't said anything out of the ordinary. "I'm surprised to see you here; I thought you would have gone back by now, what with all the fuss about the new mystery android prosecutor and all!"

The car slowed at a checkpoint and before long, they were in front of their college. "I have no interest in that country's prosecutors anymore." He stepped out of the car and said to them through the open door. "I'll be right back, don't go anywhere."

"Isn't this our college?" Asked Klavier.

"It is, a man has been shot and I need to follow the investigation." He shot Ema a glance. "Don't go running into the crime scene spraying things again, alright?" He shut the door. "Don't go into the crime scene at all."

Ema munched, deep in thought. "What if they need an instant Luminol spray bottle? What if forensics aren't here yet? What if they needed someone who knew the building? I should be out there!"

Klavier simply watched her in amusement.

"Don't look at me like that!" She shucked a piece of snackoos into his general direction. "Like I'm some sort of compulsive investigationist!"

"Is that even a word?" He laughed and stepped out of the car. "If we're doing this, might as well do it before he gets back."

Ema stepped out of the other way and rummaged through her bag. "So it was a murder scene! Why did they tell us it was a movie?"

"To keep curious people like us out of it?" He ignored the police officer who was giving them disapproving looks, after all they were here with Edgeworth's permission… Sort of… "You're not gonna eat that while walking into a crime scene, are you?"

"Oh." She looked down at the crumbs she's been leaving behind and shoved the plastic bag into one of the pockets of her stuffed messenger bag. "Not bad for an attorney wannabe!"

He was quiet for a moment as he watched her point her spray bottle to an insignificant bottle cap on the ground. "Actually, I'm not sure if I'll be aiming for attorney or prosecutor." Seeing as she was thoroughly ignoring him, he assumed she wouldn't care what he said anyway. "On one hand, the road for attorney is already paved for me; my brother owns the firm, I'll have a good position waiting for me instantly, and I'll be defending innocent people." He shifted his weight and dug his thumbs into his pockets. "But on the other hand, I can never surpass my brother's legend in court, I'll always be Krisoph Gavin's little brother and I hate that. So maybe… Prosecuting means digging up dirt on the defendant, I don't really like that and if I end up thinking they're innocent, then my case falls apart and the defense goes for encore."

"Ah huh." She crawled over to another part of the sidewalk where a blade of grass lay crushed on the asphalt. "I say go for it, doesn't make a difference."

"You mean the defense? Or prosecution?"

Ema waved her hand with the bottle dangerously pointed his direction. "I dunno, whatever makes you happy! Go away! I think I'm on to something!" she was unconsciously reaching into the bag and grabbing fistfuls of snackoos.

Klavier laughed. "Watching you squat and investigate little unimportant things makes me happy."

"Yeah, sure whatever, it's not like you have a future as a musician, to be honest."

His brows crashed down. "Why is that?"

"Well, for starters, you forgot your guitar in the square!" She pointed an empty tube at him. "And your drum guy sucks! Get a better one!"

"Well you're not going to make a very good investigator, either." He crossed his arms tightly, having taken insult at the truth she just exposed.

"Oh yeah? And you know this because…?"

"Because you're not wearing gloves." A man said. "And the crime is over there, far far away from your curious eyes and hands." Said Edgeworth, arms straight at his sides. "What did I say about you not going anywhere?"

"She was eating on the crime scene." Added Klavier helpfully.

"He convinced me!" she pointed at the blonde with the bottle.

They really had no excuse, and the expert prosecutor knew that guilty look anywhere; he made a living of pinpointing it.

Which is why the ride home was silent and awkward, even when Klavier had to get off at the square again to get his guitar. Edgeworth drove up till the door of the apartment complex and said goodnight, and drove off with a grinning young man waving from the window and sputtering German goodbyes.

Ema hoped that would be the last time she would ever see the annoying, always-smiling blonde, but alas, it wasn't.

And now he knew where she lived…


End file.
